THE ROLE OF LATIN IN CONTEMPORARY CHURCH

THE ROLE OF LATIN IN CONTEMPORARY CHURCH

My comments: The self-arbiters of liturgical reform in the name of Vatican II has done our church a disservice by totally eliminating Latin and Gregorian Chant in our liturgy. The total elimination of Latin and Gregorian chant was never mandated nor envisioned by the Vatican Council II Fathers. And today some people think that Vatican II mandated the elimination of Latin and Gregorian Chant. All of a sudden the things that were considered beautiful and sacred in the past were now quietly considered by some as taboo. This is what we call the heremeneutics of discontinuity. There is a disjoint from the past and with the present. There is a gap. People do not understand that the liturgy epitomizes the unity of thread in the experience of the church. Liturgical development must be organic. The liturgy is not a property of a group but it is the property of the church. Today with Latin and Gregorian Chant out of the picture, our contemporary Liturgy is so impoverished because of too much minimalism. This becomes more noticeable when we cannot even have a good repertoire of sacred music. Every Sunday every season we always hear new songs, always new songs and seems after learning the other we shelve the others. Where is now the wealth of experience arising from liturgical life? Priests are now talking about the need to be silent in the mass...the need to be reverent and solemn...these are the very elements present in the Latin Mass that in the 70s the self appointed arbiters of liturgical reform eliminated. Today what do we have? a liturgy which is impoverished. Minimalism in vestments, sacramental, and even the sacred vessels lack the accessories that made it appear sacred, eg. chalice veil. Priests don't wear proper vestments and the vestments does not even inspire because of impoverish art.